PressTV-UK charges forced marriage victims for repatriation

The British Foreign Office has been accused of seeking to recoup the cost of repatriating young women who have been forced into marriages overseas, prompting charities to criticize the government for making women “pay for protection”.

An investigation has found that many of the 82 victims of forced marriage repatriated between 2016-17 had to pay for living costs incurred between making distress calls and returning home to the UK.

Other costs included their flight ticket and lifeline loans received from the Foreign Office.

Some British parliamentarians have likened repatriates being forced to foot the bill for their protection to the 2018 Windrush scandal which saw UK immigration police detaining British-Caribbean citizens who lived a worked in the UK since the 1950s and deporting them back to the Caribbean.

“It is morally repugnant for the Foreign Office to charge British victims of forced marriage for the costs of bringing them…